There are a wide variety of electrical connectors which are mounted through an aperture in a panel and for coupling to a mating connector on a side of the panel opposite the direction of insertion of the connector. In some applications, it is desirable to close and seal the aperture in the panel to isolate the inner side of the panel from the outside environment, such as for moisture-proofing the arrangement. This often is accomplished simply by grommets which surround the connector and the edge of the aperture in the panel. The grommets may include body portions which surround and also provide protection for the connector itself, such as in the form of a boot.
Some panel mounted connectors also have latch means in the form of latch fingers for retaining the connector at a particular position relative to the aperture in the panel. Usually, the latch fingers on the connector engage the panel within the aperture therethrough. A sealing device, therefore, must accommodate these latch fingers and, consequently, a grommet extending through the aperture is impractical. In such applications, a sealing boot may surround the connector on the inside of the panel, with a peripheral sealing flange engaging the inside panel surface about the aperture in the panel and surrounding the connector and its latching fingers. The peripheral flange usually is flexible, and one of the problems in using such boots is to provide pressure which will maintain the flexible flange in sealing engagement with the panel surface. This may be accomplished by clamps, tape or the like, but such devices may become loosened and slippage occurs resulting in loss of the seal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,986 to Baumanis, dated Sep. 3, 1991 and assigned the assignee of this invention shows a panel mounted, sealed electrical connector which is directed to solving these problems of providing an adequate seal by incorporating improved self-facilitating features in the sealing system.
On the other hand, attempts have been made to provide auxiliary pressure-backing means against the backside of the flexible peripheral flange of the sealing boot to maintain the flexible flange in sealing engagement with the panel surface. For instance, the connector housing may include rigid flanges which sandwich the peripheral flange of the sealing boot between the rigid flanges and the panel surface. However, such rigid backing flanges do not compensate for any irregularities in the panel surface and leakage may occur at particular points of irregularity about the periphery of the flexible flange of the boot. In fact, such rigid backing means may do more harm than good, versus a flexible peripheral flange, alone, which is allowed to flex about its entire periphery.
This invention is directed to solving the problems outlined above by providing further improvements in the sealing system of a panel mounted connector.